iExtend has been granted its Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), marking a significant development in the business’ history and future growth.
The AFSL validates and strengthens iExtend’s offer to provide Australians with the opportunity to extend the life of their existing life insurance policy when they otherwise make the decision to cancel it.
It also broadens the scope of iExtend’s offering, enabling iExtend to fully participate in the financial services market and to provide financial advisers with stronger support to help their clients with insurances that would otherwise be abandoned by them. Importantly, the AFSL provides a clear and definitive decision on how iExtend fits into a regulated market.
iExtend’s CEO David Sarkis commented: “iExtend is pleased to accept the certainty provided by the issue of an AFSL, the result of a consultative process between ASIC and iExtend. This provides a pathway for how innovation such as iExtend can best participate in this industry and within a consumer protection focused framework.”
The approval of iExtend’s AFSL confirms iExtend is:
- Licensed to operate within its licence terms of the Australia financial service sector.
- Compliant with the standards of the industry, providing reassurance through the validation and simplification that an AFSL provides.
- Able to deliver the added resources and support that come with holding an AFSL such as Product Disclosure Statements, Financial Services Guides and supporting documents.
- Holding Professional Indemnity Insurance required as an AFSL holder.
- A Member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), providing policyholders an alternate dispute resolution process.
Further, with the appropriate authorisation for iExtend personnel to provide general advice, there is now greater scope to support a referral and introduction relationship to the iExtend offering.
iExtend has received strong support from several advice groups including Lifespan Financial Planning, Advice Evolution, MBS insurance, Life Experts and Newlane Risk, some of which iExtend is also an education partner. iExtend believes there is a growing industry acknowledgment that it is important to make clients aware of the iExtend offer as an alternative when discussing life insurance cancellations with clients.
These groups recognise iExtend provides an opportunity for policyholders to maintain some of their original life insurance cover after they have otherwise determined to cancel.
iExtend considers policies where the policyholder has already committed to fully or partially cancelling their term life insurance cover.
iExtend has participated in numerous industry association conferences, in particular FAAA along with specialist groups such as Ensombl, RiskInfo and Padua. iExtend remains committed to its involvement in AFSL Professional Development Days and to the iExtend iExchange Forums, a national network of more than 100 like-minded risk advisers who connect and to advocate industry solutions to addressing current industry challenges.
“iExtend is proud of its achievements and the AFSL marks a new chapter of opportunity for the offer and solidifies our desire to work with financial advisers and their clients to ensure life insurance is seen as an asset rather than liability,” said Sarkis.
